I spent most of the day working on the board. I instaled HD fin inserts with 2 lb/ft3 EPS foam. XPS might have worked but EPS required less glueing and was readily available. I was also concerned with routing our XPS. It tore pretty bad when I hit it with the power planer and was afraid that routing the slots for my probox boxes (a great product btw) might give the same problems.
By popular request I have inquired about goretext vents. sooo… PeteC- if you see this respond to my PM. If that doesnt work out Ill check out the greenlight leash plugs. I like the theory, and it seems to be well supported, but for some reason I am uneasy about them.
I also layed out the deck balsa and laminated the top but didnt bag it on yet. I have pics but the camera is in the car, its raining, and I am very content sitting here, watching Law and Order. drinking a beer, and not getting wet. I’ll post tomorrow.
Finally getting around to updating my progress. I got the fin inserts routed out…
and installed with some resin thickened with microballoons. I sanded them flat and they look pretty clean.
Meanwhile I got working on the balsa. I layed it out in a piece of plywood and taped all the strips together. Then I flipped the wood over (so the taped seams are facing down) and laminated it with 6oz.
When that set up I removed the tape from the bottom and cut the sheet
into the proper shape. Cutting the laminated balsa was a pretty big
chore. I started out with just a razorblade but that took forever.
Next I tried a big scissor but that cracked the wood. Finally I broke
out the jigsaw and it worked fine.
At this point I ran into a bit of a problem. The laminated balsa is about 3/32" and doesn’t flush with the rails. I sanded down the inside edges of the balsa and I hoped the vacuum bag would force it flat. For the inside I used 4oz glass and weighed it so I could get a 1:1 glass to resin mixture. I put it in the bag and used bubble wrap (the packing kind) as bleeder cloth. Here she is in the bag.
I dont have a pic of the board out of the bag but it looks good. The vacuum flattened out the rocker a bit but I can get that back when I do the deck. Sanding down the underside of the balsa helped a bit to get it to sit flush with the foam but its wasnt enough. After I do the deck im going to cut the rails off with a hotwire and shape new ones.
I looked into a vent also. PeteC’s look fantastic but I went with the greenlight leash/vent plugs because they are cheeper.
Today I layed up the balsa deck. I ran into a minor crisis when I mixed the resin and realized I didnt have a squeegee. Feeling the resin getting warm in my hand I resorted to my library card. It actually worked out pretty well.
Ive been wanting to try a resin swirl for quite some time so I decided to give it a shot with with yellow, red, and blue. I have an entirely new respect for people who do resin swirls- mine look like mud speckled with blue (guess I didnt mix well enough). I got some cool effects where I poured the resin but towards the outside looks pretty ugly.
I started this board over the summer but FINALLY finished it this week. Here is a quick summary of what happened since I last posted…
I bagged the bottom skin on and there was a big lip between the skin and the deck. I cut the rails off, re-attached another layer of XPS, and re-shaped them. After that I cut the deck skin to shape, sanded the bottom outline to a razor sharp edge, and put it in the bag. It came out OK. There was still a bit of a lip which I sanded flat… unfortunately when I sanded it flat it took off some of the resin swirl. Next came the worst part- glassing the rails. I wish I had pictures of this process as a how-to NOT glass rails so i guess words will have to do.
First I cut glass into 4" strips. I laid the board flat on the glassing rack and taped the strips about an inch from the deck skin meets the rail so they hung off the rail. I poured the resin on the top of the strip and pulled it down like you would normally glass. The tape did not hold and the strips started falling off and most of it just ran off onto the floor. It was ugly. Real ugly. I eventually got it but I ended up with more resin on the floor (and a bit in my hair somehow) then I did on the rails. When the resin set up I sanded the edges of the rail strip down so they were flush with the deck and bottom.
This week I finally hot coated. Here is a shot of the deck-
Notice how there is a half in where I sanded off the resin swirl (resin mud?) and it looks like bare wood. I could have done a huge pinline to cover it up but the board is for personal use and I dont really care about the cosmetics too much. The lesh plug is the Greenroom vented leash plug which was a pretty easy install. My only suggestion to anyone who plans on using one is not too kneed the epoxy putty for too long. It kicks fairly quickly and mine was almost hard when i finally pushed it in.
I finished the board with a sanded finish and I plan on taking her for a maiden voyage tomorrow if the wind cooperates. Ill try to get some pics of the finished product up tomorrow. Thanks for reading and keep up the stoke!